Tom Hiatt
October 2020
A few weeks ago, I sat down to unbox my new cellphone.
Some very clever designers have orchestrated that whole experience.
From the beautiful box that it comes in, to the sleek black screen, to the perfectly fitted accessories, it made me feel like I had taken a time machine into the future.
I sat at my desk as if I were a 6-year-old sitting under the Christmas tree!
In awe, I turned on my new phone and the experience seamlessly transitioned from the physical world to the virtual.
My phone greeted me kindly and then effortlessly synced everything from my previous phone.
As I browsed the capabilities of my new phone, I saw “exposure notifications”.
This new feature was famously created by the unlikely partnership of Apple and Google. The feature tracks your proximity to other phones nearby that also have this feature turned on.
Have you ever had a moment where you think “whoa! I’m in the future!”? This was one of those moments for me.
So, am I to understand that we can use digital technology to log my interactions with others, mirroring the potential paths a virus like SARS-CoV-2 can take to hop from person to person? Is that correct?
That’s amazing!
My amazement continued as I looked at the health apps, my personal health profile with emergency contact, allergies, blood type, the ability to sign up for organ donation, tracking of steps, sleep, meals and more, and an expansive personal health record that can bring in my health data from various clinics and hospitals.
Wow! Welcome to the future!
I am an epidemiologist at the World Health Organization. At WHO we are interested in improving all aspects of health for all people.
This includes people in every far-flung corner of the world. This includes people of all different abilities, cultures and backgrounds. This includes people who can’t afford basic necessities, much less a fancy new smart phone.
At WHO we’ve been working on the health of humans for 72 years. Long before the cell phone was invented.
Whatever the era, we’ve always sought how to use the latest technologies to save and improve lives.
I met Maria a few years ago in Cavite. I’ve changed her name and face to protect her identity. She was diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis. Now if you don’t know, this disease is a killer. Literally. The treatment is so difficult, for some it’s as bad as death.
Every day during her treatment, Maria would wake up…
go outside her home…
hail a tricycle…
ride it to a waiting shed…
to then connect with a bus…
and commute to a hospital, two hours away.
This was the only place her drugs were available. These drugs were so expensive and the regimen so challenging, that health workers were required to observe every pill going down Maria’s throat. These drugs had horrible side-effects, but were the only thing available that could take on these mutant superbugs.
It was a morbid game of who could kill whom first.
After the day’s microscopic battle, Maria would again board a bus…
to take a tricycle…
back to her home again to rest. Same thing the next day. And the next.
Maria continued this not for a week, not for a month, but for two years. She finally finished her last drug and was declared TB-free.
The sheer tenacity of patients like her amazes me.